The shortlist.

[Steve Webb]

After a good deal of searching it seems to have come down to a shortlist of 3 cars. They range in price from €1000 to €1700, but there is always room to bargain there.

The 3 are

The green 1979 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74824627@N05/sets/72157629527949235/)

The accident damaged red one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74824627@N05/sets/72157629527939253/)

And the
Mid restoration one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74824627@N05/sets/72157629512653965/)

Probably going to go and look at number 1 and 3 this weekend.

At the moment the green one is top of the list.

[Xti]

I wonder why that guy stopped the rebuild project, what could he possibly have found out during the process? I'm just curious but this might be one of your questions too while checking the car with the owner...

Personally I like to take the job from it's beginning but that's just me.

[jimnielsen]

I like the green '79 - don't like that look of that radiator - or the surface rust on the radiator fan... but it does look like a real car! Here that car would bring about $2000 AUD. Does the green on actually go?


..jim..

[Steve Webb]

Well, had a busy day today, the final parts from the old 500 were picked up this morning so now I've got a clear garage which is nice. The Citroen is being picked up on the 19th so I won't have anything hanging around outside either.

Then it was into the 500 for a cross country jaunt up to see the mid restoration car. Didn't get away quite as early as we wanted to so stopped for lunch just before we got there.
Pate, Steak (French medium = Blue!) then pear, icecream and chocolate sauce all for the grand total of €12.80.

On to the car, hmm first impressions are not good, the front of the car is in a very poor state, lots of corrosion and holed panels. I decided within about 20 seconds that this was a non starter. Had a good poke around though, underneath it wasn't bad, but overall far too much bodywork needed. The guy had bought it in pieces, fixed the inner wings up to a reasonable standard and looks like he had either given up or ran out of time.
The chap was selling at as a private sale, but he was infact owner of a garage. Saw the motor sat in the garage, looked in a pretty sorry state and he didn't know if it ran or not. Another bad sign.

About the only thing that did perk up my interest during the visit was seeing that he had what looked like a very good condition Giulia dashboard and centre console. Totally complete with all the instruments as well. Must be worth a few €'s.

Excuses made, and feeling a little disappointed its off to the second appointment, the green 79 car.

Again I thought this car was being sold as a private sale, but turn up at the address and it looks like a garage again, this one complete with huge snarly type dog.

Get past the dog and speak to the guy selling the car, turns out its not at the garage but a few miles away. We all pile into the car, with fuel and battery, (good omen) and travel at something approaching light speed to a secluded farm. (bad omen)
Tucked around the back of the pigs is the car, and even from a distance it looks miles better than the first one.

Torch out and start poking around the inner wings, they looked dodgy from the pics but in reality they are 100% solid. It looks like when the guy decided to paint the car a darker green, he slapped a load of underseal over the joints by the wings. Good start.
Looking through the grill at the bottom of the windscreen, the front bulkhead is also 100%

Crawling around under the car, peering into the wheel wells, the underseal looks in good condition, the lips on the wheel arches are totally, and I mean TOTALLY rust free. The sills are in excellent condition as well.

Lift up the rear hatch, boy do early GTVs have a weird boot support strut, take the spare wheel out, and there is a tiny amount of surface rust at the bottom of the spare wheel well. It still has all 4 plastic plugs down there as well with very minor rust around them, again only surface.

The mechanic who own the car (who coincidently looks exactly like Pasquale Gonnella) then slaps the battery in, turns the key after a couple of coughs it bursts into life, and as the rear exhaust box is completely rotten, it really does burst.
It doesn't sound too bad, certainly no death rattles or knocking. Shuts it down and it runs on a little, nothing too bad again.

Back to the garage to check over the paper work, all seems in order, quick chat with SWMBO, bit of negotiation, get the price dropped a little (point of principle really) and hand over a couple of hundred Euro as deposit.

Thats it, the green one is now officially Project GTV, just got to get back up there with a trailer and the balance and fetch it home.

Bodywork wise, this car is far far better than I was ever hoping for. Its been off the road since 1995 and dry stored, which I guess has helped, it also looks as though its been under sealed very well.

I am well chuffed at the moment, can't wait to get it back here now so I can get started with it. :thumbsup:

[jimnielsen]

Is it going to be a street car - or have you not decided yet? Is it far away?

[AlfaJack]

Nice one! Look forward to seeing this. Pasquale Gonella, a curious guy. He has a bit of a reputation on AO now!

[Steve Webb]

Is it going to be a street car - or have you not decided yet? Is it far away?

I'm in two minds about the car now, its far better structurally than I thought I would find, so I'm not sure about having it as a purely track car. But then again if I slot the 75 Turbo engine in, it will make registering the car for the road a little tricky, but the spare engine and box\interior etc would bring in some cash for other things for the car.

Regardless of what is eventually going to happen, I'll be getting the car back here then sorting out its CT and registering it.

In the grand scheme of things its not that far away, probably 160km, not next door but better than some of the cars that I've seen that were 500km + away.


Nice one! Look forward to seeing this. Pasquale Gonella, a curious guy. He has a bit of a reputation on AO now!

Pasquale was always a little bit fly, did you ever spot the picture of him with the Pope up in his office? Hes got a bloody big house as well, I saw it from the outside once when I picked up a Fiat Spider from him.
Best not to ask too many questions. :lipsrsealed: